Hollowed Souls
by kaineno4I4
Summary: With the nations of Cultus and Ferox on the brink of war and increasingly vicious attacks of the Ferox soldiers known as "hollows," Ichigo, the son of Ferox's leader, sets out to put and end to the bloodshed. Yet the only person that shares his view on war is the Princess of Cultus, Rukia Kuchiki. Will they put and end to the fighting, or get wrapped up in a fight of their own? AU


**AN: Alright, so since my other story is a repost for several chapters, I thought I would try out a new story. I just want to get your opinion first before I continue, because this one is complicated and I only want to write it if you guys enjoy it. So please read and review to let me know what you think.**

**Also, since this is, like I said, a bit complicated, I'll explain a tiny bit before I continue:**

**It takes place in on an island continent called Tenebra that consists of two countries, Ferox and Cultus. The Ferox citizens are called Vestatio and the Cultus citizens are called Excelsus. The army of Cultus is called the Delectus.**

**So now it won't be as confusing in the beginning. So… enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Masked Nightmare

A blood curdling scream ripped through the evening sky, echoing against the small buildings of the town. Rukia curled into a tighter ball, pushing herself as close as she could to the rock at her side. A thud sounded from the opposite side, making Rukia cover her face with her tiny hands.

_Don't find me. Please._

"Hey there, little brat!"

Rukia snapped her head up, a scream catching in her throat as she looked up into golden irises. The white mask gleamed wickedly down at her, making her scramble backwards along the ground, trying to get away as fast as she could.

"Come on, don't be rude!" the man told her, the sharp teeth of the mask making it look like he was grinning at her.

Rukia turned, stumbling as she tried to stand and run, and began running as fast as her five year old legs would carry her. She glanced back at where the man was, only to find he wasn't there.

"Think you can get away? You really are a pathetic little girl!"

Rukia turned to face forward, and found that the man was now in front of her, leaning casually against a building. Rukia skid to turn down a different road, tears forming in her violet eyes. As she rounded another corner, she trip over a something lying in the road. When she looked back at it, she found the contorted face of a corpse staring back at her.

"As much as I like chasing rabbits, it's time for us to end this, little brat."

Rukia turned over, and found the man towering over her, his malicious mask and glinting eyes making her heart beat fast in fear.

"N-no. G-get away…" Rukia started crawling backward slowly, a tear slipping down her cheek.

The man raised his hand, pointing his palm towards Rukia. In a matter of seconds, a bright red light was forming in his palm, forming a dense sphere of energy.

"One more toy used up. This town was pretty boring, ya know? Anyway, goodbye, little brat."

The ball of energy began to hum, brightening slightly. Rukia closed her eyes. As darkness enveloped her, the humming stopped, and Rukia felt a drop of warm liquid land on her cheek. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see that the man in the mask had been replaced by a man in brass Delectus armor.

"Disgusting hollow," the man said, looking down distastefully at the body of the masked man. "I can't believe it only took one to wipe out this entire village."

The man looked over at Rukia, smiling gently as he crouched down in front of her.

"Are you okay girl?"

Rukia looked at him, tears welling in her eyes. She choked back a sob, then the tears began to flow and the violent sobs racked her small body.

"Hey… ah damn. Why am I stuck with this one? Hey, come on, stop crying. We'll take you back to Spinae with us; maybe even introduce you to the prince. How does that sound?" the man asked, giving her an encouraging smile.

Rukia looked up at him, her large eyes full of fear, relief and sadness. She sniffed and nodded slightly, attempting to smile, but failing to even manage a weak one.

"Good! Come on, I'll get you a blanket and something to eat."

-Ж-

Present Day

"_Hollowed soul, spread thy wings!_

_Take flight from the land of Tenebra._

_Hear the command Cultus sings,_

_and flee from the land of Tenebra._

_Vile Ferox of beastly souls,_

_may you crumble to dust and ash._

_Let our countries change their roles,_

_lest fair Cultus and Ferox clash._

Rukia grimaced in distaste. She had always hated that song. Ever since that day, every time she heard the lyrics, she would remember the exact events that took place. Those golden and black eyes; that glistening white mask; the man's sickening voice; they all came back to her, just like they did in her nightmares. It had been nine years since she had been adopted by the prince of Cultus, Byakuya Kuchiki, yet she still had nightmares about the hollow almost every night.

"Is there something bothering you, Rukia?" the man sitting next to her asked, looking at her displeased face.

Rukia turned to him. Byakuya Kuchiki was a stoic man, with long black hair held back in kenseikan. His cold, grey eyes never showed any emotion other than disapproval, and he rarely looked directly at the one he was talking to unless he felt them worth looking at.

"Yes, brother. I just wish to have some time alone," Rukia answered, standing up and turning to bow to him.

"Very well. Remember we must appear before the Praefecti and Imperator to discuss war efforts this afternoon. Do not be late."

"Yes, brother." Rukia bowed once again before turning and striding into the hall.

As soon as she had made it out of the room, she let out a frustrated groan. The war meetings were the worst part of her week. She was forced to sit in and listen to a bunch of military men chat aimlessly about the same thing over and over again: hollow attacks here and hollow attacks there. What was the point of having a war council if they did nothing but run after the one or two hollows that would attack the towns close to the border? For that matter, what was the point of having an army without an organized enemy? And if the hollows ever did form an army… well, there wasn't much that anyone would be able to do to stop them.

"Rukia?"

She was jerked out of her thoughts as she looked up at the one who was addressing her. He was a tall man in the leather armor of the Delectus. His long red hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail and his tattoos gave him a very… defining appearance.

"Renji!"

She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his torso. She had not seen her best friend since he had been sent out on border patrol three months ago. Even though she would never admit it, she had really missed him.

"Hey Rukia," he said, returning the hug. When they parted, Rukia looked up to see that Renji was gazing at her in curiosity.

"What?"

"Everything okay?"

She smiled up at. "Yeah. I just don't want to go to war council this afternoon. It seems like we have more and more of them and yet the attacks just get more frequent."

Renji's gaze became grim. "This meeting is different. We found some information that will be brought before the Praefecti and the Imperator that might cause some problems."

Rukia felt her curiosity peak, but tried not to let it show. "I take it that you can't tell me yet."

"Sorry, Rukia. I was ordered to keep it silent until we bring it up at the meeting."

Rukia nodded and walked past Renji, who followed her to the staircase. As they climbed, she looked over at her friend.

"Where were you patrolling this time?" she asked. Rukia had always wanted to travel across the country, but being the adopted heir to the Kuchiki family, she was not allowed to leave the capital. The only other place she could remember was the town she was in when the hollow attacked.

"Parva," he groaned in response.

Rukia's eyes widened in surprised. "But that's so far away! Why didn't they just send some of the soldiers that were closer?"

"I don't know. Maybe they just like making us take two week horse rides to small towns. That place is in the middle of nowhere. It was probably the most boring posting I've received yet. The only one that even comes close was when I got stick in the slums in Mercor."

"But you still get to go and see other places. I'm stuck right where I am. Spinae is beautiful, but there is only so much to see and do in this city," Rukia said as they came to the top of the stairs.

"Maybe Byakuya will let you go on trip one day," Renji suggested, though his voice sounded doubtful.

"You know as well as I do that that will never happen, Renji. He thinks that the moment I leave I will walk right into a hollow. The only places that are really vulnerable are the towns on the border. It's not like I will be attacked if I go east towards the coast," she replied, looking out of the window at the bustling streets below.

"He is concerned about your safety, Rukia."

She turned and walked over to the first door in the hallway. "Well, I wish he would worry a little less. It's nice to see you again Renji. Now if you will excuse me, I must prepare myself for the war council."

Renji smirked at her. "You mean take a nap for the rest of the day."

Rukia felt her cheeks warm as she turned to glare at her friend. "How I prepare is no concern to you!"

"See you later, Rukia," Renji laughed, waving as he turned to walk back down the stairs.

Rukia huffed indignantly before turning back to her door and walking into the room. As soon as she closed the door, she leaned back against the rough wood and closed her eyes. It seemed that today was going to be somewhat busy. She needed to relax a bit before this evening. As she opened her eyes, she spotted something that made her eyes widen in surprise. Sitting on her window sill with one foot hanging loosely off the edge was a tall boy who looked to be in his teens. He was lean with bright orange hair that seemed to glow in the light filtering through the glass panes that he was currently looking out of.

"Who are you? What are you doing in here?" He neither turned nor answered.

"Who are you?!"

This time, his head began to turn toward her slowly, tilting slightly back as he looked over his shoulder. As his face came into view, Rukia felt the breath catch in her throat. His features were hidden behind a wicked white mask with sharp teeth, and his eyes were black with shimmering golden irises.

Rukia pressed herself back against the door, trying to back away from him.

"H-hollow…" she said quietly. He continued to look at her with one eye, not bothering to turn his head enough to look directly at her.

"GUAR-" before she could finish calling out, she felt a hand on her mouth and saw that the sill was now vacant.

"Don't call out. I'm not here to hurt you."

As the hollows face came back into view, Rukia's eyes widened. He no longer had a mask on, and she was surprised by how handsome he actually was. He looked at her with warm amber eyes and his skin was slightly tanned, but his features were slightly marred by the scowl that rest on his face.

"If I take my hand away, are you going to call the guards?"

_Of course I am! Who the hell wouldn't when they get attacked in their own room?!_ She shook her head slightly, and he slowly removed his hand.

"GUA-" Again she found a hand over her mouth.

"What the hell? What part of 'I'm not here to hurt you' did you not understand?" he hissed at her. She glared and tried to land a kick on his shin, but he moved his leg out of the way with an inhuman speed.

"I just want to talk. I think we might be able to help each other."

Confusion surged through Rukia. What exactly did that mean? Again, he slowly removed his hand, and this time Rukia didn't scream.

"At least you're smart enough to understand me," he mumbled, earning a glare from the petite woman.

"What exactly is it that you want, _hollow?_" The way she said hollow was the same way she would say a curse.

"I just want to talk. And we prefer the term Vestatio, not the term hollow. We are neither heartless nor soul less, Excelsus," he growled.

"It surprises me that an animal like you would know the name of people of Cultus. I thought that you would know little about that outside of the wasteland you call the country of Ferox."

"Will listen or not?" he asked, clearly growing impatient.

"That depends on what it is you wish to speak to me about. If it is that you wish to turn yourself in, then we may have reason to speak. Otherwise, I will not be easily persuaded to speak to the likes of you any longer than I already have."

He rubbed his face in irritation, but continued on to explain himself. "I want to stop the war that is about to start between our countries. I know that you have often spoken against war from what I have heard in the time I've spent in this city, so I figured it would be best to come to you."

Rukia blink in confusion. "You… want to stop what?"

"The war that your Praefecti are about to start this evening."

"How do you know that they will call for war?"

He sighed and looked out of the window. "There have been several attacks on the outlying towns of your country by hollows that defy the laws of my nation. One of the attacks was strange, though. The attack seemed organized, planned. Your leaders believe that we Vestatio have formed an organized militia to fight the army of Cultus, the Delectus. But the thing is, we have had an organized army for the last two hundred years, the Viri Larvarum. The Viri Larvarum has not been revealed simply because we have laws prohibiting the attacking of any Excelsus unless it is in self defense."

"Wait, you have laws preventing the attack of our citizens? I thought that you wanted to eradicate us," Rukia stated, now thoroughly confused.

"No. We only want to keep our lands. But there are some that want to take back the lands that we used to own, the lands that now form your country, Cultus. But the point is that I want to stop the invasion of Ferox by the Delectus army. If you were to invade, we would attack with the idea that it is self defense, and thus we would not hold back. Do you see what my issue is?" he asked, clearly desperate.

Rukia thought for a second. She would never have expected a hollow to want to stop a war, let alone think so far ahead. She also had never expected to have a conversation with one.

"I do. I do not want to see war come to Tenebra either, but what can you do about it?"

"I'm not sure yet. That is why I came to you. I want to work with you on a way to help both of our nations."

Rukia stared at him. Was he really a hollow?

"What?" he asked, growing uncomfortable under her stare.

"What happened to your mask?" she asked randomly, not sure where the question had come from.

He smirked. "Despite what you may think, we Vestatio don't have permanent masks."

"Then why wear something so awful?"

"They're not that bad!" he replied in defiance.

At that moment, a knock came from the door behind Rukia, making them both tense.

"Rukia? You awake? There's been an emergency. We need to get down to the war room. Now," Renji called from the other side of the wood.

"Umm, okay. Hold on," Rukia called. She looked back at the hollow, who had moved his hand in front of his face, looking ready for a fight. "You need to go."

He nodded, and black wisps of energy formed around his hand. In a flash of the energy, his masked formed back on his face, his eyes turning back to the black and gold that had become a symbol of evil and death in Cultus. Rukia felt a shiver run down her spine as he gazed at her. He got ready to turn to toward the window when something occurred to Rukia.

"Wait. What's your name?"

He turned back to her, but this time when he spoke, it was with the voice that haunted her nightmares. His voice was layered in with something much more sinister than any human voice.

"Ichigo."

With that, he disappeared, leaving Rukia staring, stunned, at the now open window. How on earth did he do that?

"Rukia!" Renji called again. She turned and opened the door quickly to see the serious look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"A man just came in to speak with Byakuya. He apparently saw something of concern earlier today near on the roof of one of the buildings in the market."

"Did he say what it was? If it's of that much concern and it is in the city, I would think that he wouldn't delay his explanation of what the threat was."

"It was a hollow."

* * *

**AN: How did it turn out? Any suggestions, tips, or criticisms are welcome. Arigatou!**


End file.
